Study finds environment laws are failing to curb nature destruction in Northern Australia
An aerial photo of part of the Daly Region in the Northern Territory showing a patchwork of vegetation clearing. Image: Google Maps
News story
9 September 2024
New research led by The University of Queensland has added to the case for federal nature law reform after finding existing laws in Queensland and the Northern Territory are not working to protect nature or curb deforestation.
The research published in the peer-reviewed journal Conservation Biology has found that the vast majority of clearing has been occurring without assessment of potential environmental impacts.
Study lead-author Hannah Thomas at the University of Queensland said that high rates of native vegetation clearing are worsening the intertwined biodiversity-loss crisis and climate crisis.
“High rates of land clearing are a problem in northern Australia. Places like Queensland’s Brigalow Belt and Mulga Lands are experiencing high rates of vegetation clearing which can imperil species and ecosystems in these regions.
“Brigalow forests once occupied 14 million hectares but today only 8% remain. The whole vegetation community has been declared Endangered and many dependent species like the golden-tailed gecko, Yakka skink and ornamental snake are also in trouble.
“A recent report by the Queensland Chief Scientist found that 680,000 hectares was cleared in one year — equivalent to a strip of bush 3.5km wide stretching from the NSW border to the tip of Cape York.
The handsome Yakka skink is nationally listed as threatened. The large skink occurs in brigalow forests which have been 90% cleared for agriculture and urbanisation. Habitat loss and degradation remains its #1 threat. Image: Jules Farquhar
“Given that governments have pledged to stop extinctions and protect nature we wanted to examine if the clearing was legal.
“We examined a sample of 18,000 land clearing events in Queensland and the Northern Territory totalling 1.5 million hectares over a six year period between 2014-2021 using satellite images and government land clearing and vegetation cover data.
“When then identified each of the national, state or territory laws that were likely applicable and if there was evidence of compliance through referrals or assessments or through exemptions.
“We found that 90% of the clearing in Queensland and 96% of the clearing in the Northern Territory was compliant with the applicable state or territory laws. In Queensland, most was compliant by exemption, meaning automatically compliant without assessment.
“The results were very different for the federal environment law, the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act or EPBC Act.
“The EPBC Act was applicable to around three-quarters of the clearing we examined, for example due to potential significant impacts on nationally threatened species and ecosystems, but less than one quarter of that clearing had any evidence of referral to that law.
“So for most proposed clearing that the EPBC act is relevant to, it appears that landowners are not referring their projects when they should and the federal government is not following up to enforce it.
“This is a concerning finding as it means we are missing opportunities to improve outcomes for threatened animals, plants and ecosystems during assessment and through development conditions.”
Clearing, reclearing or thinning native vegetation to faciitate beef cattle grazing is the biggest driver of deforestation in Northern Australia. Clearing native vegetation for intensive agricultural cropping and renewable energy projects are also increasing. Image: Jaana Dielenberg
Biodiversity Council Director James Trezise said the EPBC Act was designed to protect and manage nationally important plants, animals, habitats and places.
“This study adds to the growing body of evidence demonstrating the failure of our national environmental laws to protect the places and wildlife that Australians care deeply about.
“If we are to tackle the extinction crisis, we need environmental laws with teeth and a strong, independent regulator to enforce them.
“There is an urgent need to strengthen the Nature Positive Bills currently before parliament to ensure we can tackle major threats to nature.
“These laws must provide a framework for setting national environmental standards and create a truly independent regulator that can operate free from Ministerial interference.”
Study co-author and Biodiversity Councillor Professor Martine Maron from the University of Queensland said that reducing tree clearing rates was critical considering Australia agreed at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030, and prevent further extinctions.
“There is an urgent need to reduce land clearing rates in northern Australia if we are to meet our international commitments.
“Thousands of clearing events are occurring each year and threatened species are suffering the death of a thousand cuts.
“Australia must ensure existing laws are applied, and expand stewardship programs to support land managers to keep and care for forest and woodland on their properties.”
“Retaining healthy ecosystems of native plants and animals is important to the long-term health of our catchments, for our soils and waters, for crop pollinators, to capture carbon and for the air we breathe,” Professor Maron said.
